Archive for January, 2012

Through exploring structure, and connections to a biological organism as inspiration for my building design, I discovered a few things that do work and some that do not. I enjoyed playing around with forms and interlocking elements to create the building screen, but I think that if I truly want to use biomimicry as a source of inspiration in the project, I will need to dive back into research to understand how the joints of the human body function and if this is at all related to how the building will function as a moveable piece of architecture.

It is important to keep in mind how the building will emerge at all scales, so as we move forward in looking at the overall massing design and “big picture” goals, it will be helpful to keep in mind the transition spaces where this wall screen could become interactive in a variety of spaces. It is a detail to the facade, but it could also play a major role in how the form is shaped.

From the pin-up review of our projects, I also realized that design is often about trial and error. We all explore many alternatives before coming up with an idea that sticks, and to be flexible in the process only allows for the greatest outcome. There are many sketches that will probably be saved in my notebook for another time, but in working out different concepts, I have learned that the ability to change and transform an idea is beneficial to every project. I hope to use this mindset in solving the next set of challenges in this coming week in terms of site concepts and parti designs.

I have created a building screen that would work to filter light in an interesting way, but would also use the interlocking joints as a hinge to fold the panels up as a canopy. These would create great transitional zones for any indoor to outdoor spaces of the program. If I pushed the idea of staggering the wood slats to allow for openings, or exaggerated the angles of these panels to flex in and out, the building form could become quite expressive and dynamic.

The way a spinal cord and rib cage uses bone members to intersect in rigid connections is inspiring in terms of structural design. This concept could indicate how the connections of the buildings become rigid interlocking pieces, but are flexible in the spaces they create. The separation of the linear pieces could also prove to be a fascinating building skin on the exterior of steel and glass wall framing.

My first idea in finding inspiration through biomimicry was looking at the grapevine canopy and how the way the leaves and twines are weaved together and how that could create a skin for the building that would filter light in an interesting way. This could also bring about ideas for a passive solar building, but I have more to explore with that concept.

The other idea that I started playing around with was how two elements interlock and create strong connections for a building. I started playing with the forks and looking at how the spokes could interweave to make really dynamic light patterns, but I wanted to see how a natural organism could reflect a similar concept. I started poking around the AskNature website again and found the structure of the spinal cord and rib cage that inspired me to explore further. It spoke about a similar idea of the strength that comes from interlocking elements and how that creates a rigid vertical column, while still allowing for flexibility.

Exploring how forks can interact has brought about an idea of what the building structure could be like. The potential for these rigid pieces to interweave and create interesting patterns of light is something I would like to explore further in order to create a building skin that would wrap around the multiple structures on this large site.